Free Seems Like Old Times by Joanne Pence Page A

blue eyes. The remembrance was a bolt from the
past.
    He took in everything about her in an instant. When he was
last with her, she was a lovely eighteen year old, but before him now was a
mature, beautiful woman. Soft, supple teen age curves had given way to a
womanliness that took his breath away. Even wearing casual slacks and a blouse,
she dripped elegance and sophistication so out of place in Big Bob’s he would
have laughed had she been anyone but Lisa.
    He noticed that the freckles on her nose were gone, as was
the fullness in her cheeks. Her cheekbones were pronounced now, the skin taut
around them, and so smooth and translucent it seemed
flawless. Her mouth was still as kissable as he remembered, the lower lip a
little fuller than the upper, giving her a pouty look that belied her
untouchable, cool image. He had been the first man to kiss her and he still
remembered the taste of it his lips. He had been the first man to make love to
her, and those memories, too, hit him with the force of a hurricane.
    He stared, far too long as the pleasure in seeing her
again mixed with the aching hurt that he'd thought had died long ago. Being
with her again, he learned it hadn't.
    For no reason she could explain, she stepped closer. She'd
spent every day since her return to Miwok trying not to think about him, trying
not to remember the past. But it had caught up to her. Tony was here. Years had
passed, but the intimacy they’d shared surrounded them with memories and
neither seemed to quite know what to say or do.
    "What a surprise!" Gene Cantelli said, a little too forced, a little too loudly. "Why don't we get a table
together?" he suggested.
    "Sounds great," Cheryl immediately answered.
"Excuse me a minute, though. I've got to find the ladies' room."
    Gene, too, backed away. "I want to get a newspaper.
I’ll be right back."
    "Gene!" Tony made a move toward him.
    "One minute, paisan , that’s
all." Gene tossed the words casually over his shoulder and left, whistling
jauntily.
    Tony and Lee stood watching their departing friends.
    Cheryl and Gene should be horse whipped for this stunt,
Lee thought. With a sigh, she faced Tony.
    "Well," she said finally, her voice breathless,
"hello." With a jerking, too fast motion, she stuck out her hand.
    He looked surprised, then gripped
it hard, too hard. "Lisa," he answered.
    She was aware that his hands were broader now, with a
sprinkling of hair on his fingers. They were a man's hands, strong and solid.
He was aware that her hands were slimmer than those of the girl he knew, and
had the creamy softness and perfect nails of a woman who knew the luxury of a
pampered life.
    They dropped their hands as if burned.
    He spoke. "I hope you don't mind Gene saying we
should join you." God, what a dumb thing to say. Right out of the tenth grade. He put his thumbs in his pockets and rocked
back on his heels.
    It was a sweetly familiar gesture. Years ago, Tony had
never been one to stand still, and it seemed that characteristic continued.
" It's fine," she said, annoyed that she
sounded somewhat breathless. Even more annoyed that she felt somewhat
breathless. What was wrong with her?
    She searched his face. His eyes were more wary than when
they were young. She wondered what had put the wariness there. After a
struggle, she found her voice. "I guess we may as well sit...." What
had happened to the smooth, eloquent Lee Reynolds who had boldly interviewed
Presidents and Prime Ministers?
    They sat perched on the edge of the foyer bench, both
ready to jump up and flee at a moment's notice. Silence palled. They both began
to speak at once, then stopped abruptly, eyeing each
other with patent embarrassment and yet amazement to find themselves side by
side again. There should have been enough between them to laugh at this; but
instead they found there was too much. Still too much.
    "You first," Tony said. His voice was like sand,
hers smooth as quicksilver.
    "All I was going to say was that I'd hoped to